Unstressed syllables

The difference between stressed and unstressed syllables is rather significant in English, much more significant than, for example, in Hungarian. The occurrence or absence of several phenomena depends on whether the given syllable is stressed or unstressed. We will get acquainted with some phenomena that are typical of unstressed syllables in English.

A common feature of the phenomena that affect unstressed syllables is the loss of information: neutralization. This may involve simply the loss of contrast (ie the loss of a difference between sounds), or the loss of a whole sound, usually the vowel of the unstressed syllable.

Free variation

The term free variation is used for situations where different sound shapes may be used for the same meaning. For example, some speakers of English would say ejprəkot, while others would say aprəkot for the word spelled apricot. This difference is not governed by the context the word appears in, it is a matter of free choice by the speaker. In the same way, either could be ajðə or ijðə.

There are not so many cases of free variation in stressed syllables, the phenomenon is much more common though in unstressed syllables. The word family, for example, may be pronounced in at least four different ways: fámilij, fáməlij, fáml̩ij (note the little mark under the l, its meaning will be discussed below), fámlij.

Neutralization

We have seen that there are fewer types of vowels in English before R than elsewhere. The vowel of first, nurse, and merge, or force, north, and cure, for example, are the same əː and oː, respectively. Accordingly, the former contrast that exists between words like fin and fun disappears in fir and fur, or that between shoat and shoot is lost in shore and sure. Likewise, the vowels contrasts in tan, Tyne, and town cannot be maintained in tar, tyre, and tower. Such losses of constrast are referred to as neutralization. In the pre-R cases discussed here, neutralization is caused by the historical R, which then itself is also lost.

We also find neutralization in unstressed syllables. Take, for example, the word man mán and its plural form men mén. These two words contrast, they have different vowels. The same contrast, however, does not survive in postman pə́wstmən and postmen pə́wstmən: these two words are pronounced the same. The fact that they are spelled differently suggests that earlier they used to be pronounced differently. But this difference has been neutralized. Neutralization in this case is a result of vowel reduction: in unstressed syllables, vowels of English are often reduced to ə, sometimes to i. Since different vowels turn into the same vowel, their contrasts are lost or neutralized.

Vowel reduction

As has already been shown, current British English has three sets of vowels, short (aka checked) vowels (i e a ə o u), long monophthong (aka R vowels: iː eː aː əː oː uː), and diphthongs (aka free vowels: ij ej aj oj aw əw uw). All of these vowels occur in stressed syllables, but in unstressed syllables only a subset of them is found. These are three short vowels, ə, i, and u, as well as three diphthongs, ij, uw, and əw. Long monophthongs do not occur in unstressed syllables. The vowels that occur in unstressed syllables are called reduced vowels or weak vowels. Note that these vowels are reduced only when they are in an unstressed syllable, the same vowels are not reduced when in a stressed syllable. The vowel of a stressed syllable is called a full vowel. That is, the first, stressed vowels of village víliʤ, butter bə́tə, easy íjzij, photo fə́wtəw are full vowels, the second, unstressed ones are reduced.

Unstressed i, u, and ə

The unstressed short vowels, i ə u, as all short vowels, occur followed by a consonant as in the following words:

• illegal ilíjgəl, family fámilij, basic béjsik
• unite junájt, regular régjulə, volume vóljum
• attack əták, abacus ábəkəs, comet kómət

The distribution of unstressed short vowels differs from the distribution of stressed short vowels at one point, however: unstressed ə occurs word finally too, while no stressed short vowel does so. The following words exemplify this.

comma kómə, bazinga bəzíngə, matter mátə, colour kə́lə, martyr máːtə

Unstressed u only occurs after a palatal consonant or a stop+liquid cluster (just like unstressed uw, examples will be provided further below). Accordingly, it cannot occur at the beginning of a word.

Unstressed u is in free variation with unstressed ə, so unite can be jənájt and regular can be régjələ, in addition to the pronunciation with u transcribed above.

Unstressed ij, əw, and uw

While stressed diphthongs occur in any position — before consonants, before vowels, and word finally — the distribution of unstressed ij, əw, and uw is less free. Each occurs word finally and before a vowel, but ij does not occur before a consonants, while the other two do. Here are some examples.

• create krijéjt, carry kárij
• obese əwbíjs, Genoa dʒénəwə, window wíndəw
• unite juwnájt, visual víʒuwəl, value váljuw

The fact that unstressed ij does not occur before a consonant is surprising in light of the fact that all vowels we have encountered so far are found in this position. Words like carries kárijz or carried kárijd are only apparent counterexamples: ij is word final in both words (and many others where a suffix follows an word that ends in ij), since the word kárijz contains the word kárij, which ends right after ij. If we enclose words in brackets, this can be represented as [ [ kárij ] z ], laziness [ [ léjzij ] nəs ], livelihoods [ [ [ [ lájv ] lij ] hud ] z ], etc.

Although the other two unstressed diphthongs do occur before a consonant, both may lose their offglide (w) in all such cases: obese may be əwbíjs and unite juwnájt (and since unstressed u always alternates with ə, the latter may also be jənájt). The offglide may never be omitted before a vowel, but in some varieties it may go from əw word finally: eg fellow féləw. Note that the remaining ə is the only unstressed vowel that occurs word finally.

As already mentioned, unstressed uw and u occur after palatal consonants and stop+liquid clusters, as in the following examples.

palatals

volume vólju(w)m, virtue və́ːtʃuw, gradual grádʒuwəl, issue íʃuw, usual júwʒuwəl

stop+liquid clusters

instrument ínstrumənt, influence ínfluwəns

The distribution of unstressed vowels is summarized in this chart. As we have seen short vowels only occur before a consonant, but unstressed ə also occurs word finally, shown by the red tick. This is a departure from the distribution of short vowels that are stressed. The other departure is also reddened: unstressed ij does not occur before a consonant, although all other vowels may occur in this position. While the other two diphthongs, əw and uw may occur before a consonant, both may lose their offglide here, which is why these occurrences are parenthesized.

Spelling unstressed vowels

To recap: compared to the full vowel inventory, the set of reduced vowel is rather small. These vowels are highlighted in the following chart.

We will now look at how these vowels are typically spelled.

Spelling unstressed ə

Unstressed ə can be spelled in practically any way. Any of the single vowel letters occur as the spelling of this vowel: A (anywhere in the word): about əbáwt, madam mádəm, comma kómə; E (at the beginning of or within the word): erase əréjs, chicken tʃíkən; I/Y (only within word): April éjprəl, spirit spírət, Brooklyn brúklən; O (at the beginning of or within the word): obey əbéj, abbot ábət; U (only within word in covered position): bonus bə́wnəs.

The following chart summarizes the possibilities grouping word-initial, word-medial, and word-final occurrences of the vowel letters.

It is even possible that there is no letter that represents ə: eg app∅le ápəl, rhyth∅m ríðəm, cent∅re séntə.

Vowel digraphs may also be used to spell ə: eg Britain brítən, famous féjməs.

Unstressed word-final ə is very common with an unpronounced R in the spelling. In this case any vowel letter and a number of digraphs can represent it: grammar grámə, letter létə, tapir téjpə, martyr máːtə, motor mə́wtə, lemur líjmə; Alistair, álistə, amateur ámətə, colour kə́lə, etc.

Spelling unstressed i

Unstressed i — like stressed i — does not occur word finally at all. It is commonly spelled by E or I/Y, but in most cases the pronunciation varies between i and ə: eráse, chícken, and Ápril may all have either of these two vowels in their unstressed syllable. Word-initial I is always i.

The letter A represents i in some endings, eg -age (eg village, manage, courage), as well as -ace, -ase, -ate, -ave (eg menace, purchase, senate, octave), but in these i alternates with ə.

U for i/ə is rather uncommon, occurring nevertheless in minute mínit/mínət and lettuce létis/létəs. Unstressed i is never spelled O in English.

Vowel digraph spellings for unstressed i include forfeit fóːfit and handkerchief háŋkətʃif.

Spelling unstressed ij

Unstressed ij can only be spelled by E or I/Y. Recall that this vowel does not occur before a consonant, only before a vowel or at the end of a word. In both environments it may be spelled by either vowel letter. I is more common before a vowel (eg aria, curious, Italian, but embryo) and Y at the end of a word (eg vary, Italy, but spaghetti). The function of E at the end of words is often to indicate that the preceding vowel is free, but in some words it represents unstressed ij, eg simile síməlij, apostrophe əpóstrəfij, Nike nájkij, Ariadne árijádnij, etc.

Spelling unstressed əw

Unstressed əw is by O (eg obey, Genoa, auto, motto, Toronto) or word finally also by the digraph OW (eg fellow, follow, window).

Preconsonantal unstressed əw always alternates with ə: obey əwbéj or əbéj, automobile óːtəməwbíjl or óːtəməbíjl, Eothen íjəwθen or íjəθen.

Spelling unstressed uw and u

The chart showing the possible spelling of unstressed uw is also a one-liner: this vowel can only be spelled by U. Furthermore, this U must be in free graphic position, U in covered position is always ə: eg capsule kápsjuwl vs consul kónsəl or deputy dépjutij vs faculty fákəltij.

Unstressed uw can also be spelled by the digraph EW: eg Matthew máθjuw.

Unstressed uw does not occur before a consonant followed by an unstressed vowel or before R. Compare stimulate stímjuwlejt, stímjulejt, or stímjəlejt vs stimulus stímjuləs or stímjələs (but not *stímjuwləs): uw can occur before the stressed vowel ej of stimulate, but not before the unstressed vowel ə of stimulus. Furthermore, although saturate resembles stimulate in having stress on the vowel following U, it cannot be pronounced with uw, since this is not available before r: sátʃurejt or sátʃərejt (but not *sátʃuwrejt). Likewise word finally tenure ténjə, treasure tréʒə, pressure préʃə, etc can only contain ə, since the R is unpronounced here and u is not available word finally.

Having briefly surveyed the vowels occurring in unstressed position, we now turn to other processes that delete these unstressed vowels.

Syllabic consonant formation

Recall that unstressed ə is a result of vowel reduction: full is fúl, but the vowel in the suffix -ful may reduce to fəl, so careful may be pronounced kéːful or kéːfəl. Vowel reduction may thus wipe out (neutralize) the difference between the somewhat hypothetical word ryeful ‘containing rye’ and rifle, both pronounced rájfəl.

TheA syllable is usually made up of a vowel surrounded by consonants: eg bit bit. In some languages it is not only what we call vowels that can be surrounded by consonants in a syllable, but also some consonants. In Slovak, for example, r and l may be syllabic: kr̩k ‘neck’, vl̩k ‘wolf’. (The symbol below the r and the l marks that they are syllabic.) “next step” after vowel reduction is syllabic consonant formation (SCF for short). In this process, the vowel — always unstressed ə — is lost and the consonant that follows it becomes syllabic. Syllabicity is an inherent property of vowels, so in SCF this is the only feature of the vowel that remains, all other properties are gone.

InIn rhotic accents r may be analysed as syllabic in stressed position too: eg bird bŕ̩d. English syllabic consonants may only occur in unstressed position, there are no stressed syllabic consonants.

only sonorants It is only the sonorant consonants r, l, m, and n that may be syllabic. Thus SCF is possible in opal or Opel both pronounced əwpəl > əwpl̩, oracle as órəkəl > órəkl̩, but it is not in opus əwpəs or abacus ábəkəs, since s is not a sonorant.

syllabic nasals Syllabic nasals only occur after obstruents and r, but not after other sonorants, notably l or another nasal: eg listen lísən > lísn̩, quorum kwóːrəm > kwóːrm̩, but melon mélən may not be *méln̩ or common kómən may not be *kómn̩.

syllabic l Syllabic l is freer in its distribution, it may occur after any consonant except another l. Here are some examples: mortal móːtəl > móːtl̩, morsel móːsəl > móːsl̩, moral mórəl > mórl̩, mammal máməl > máml̩, narwhal náːwəl > náːwl̩, mile (májl >) májəl > májl̩.

syllabic r You may recall that Current British English is a nonrhotic accent, which means that r only occurs before a vowel. We must now make this statement more precise: the case of quorum kwóːrm̩ and moral mórl̩ shows that r may occur before any segment provided that segment is syllabic. Of course, in the majority of cases a syllabic segment is a vowel, but we have just seen that some consonants may also be syllabic in English.

The same restriction holds for syllabic r, too: it must be followed by a syllabic segment: eg terrorist térərist > térr̩ist (but terror may not be *térr̩), camera kámərə > kámr̩ə (hammer may not be hámr̩, but hammering háməriŋ > hámr̩iŋ), literal lítərəl > lítr̩l̩.

Syncope

Syncope is a further step in the trajectory of information loss. Syncope means the total loss of a vowel (typically unstressed ə), including its syllabicity. Consider the following changes in the middle syllable of the word family fámilij, vowel reduction yields fáməlij,Intriguingly, we may still know there was a vowel here, since ml only occurs within a morpheme in English if there was a vowel between these two consonants. However, this is not always the case: eg battery bátərij > bátrij. SCF yields fáml̩ij, syncope yields fámlij. In the last form, all traces of the original vowel are lost.

That syncope “follows” SCF is also shown by the fact that syncope may only occur if SCF could also have occurred. That is, the same constraints hold for the two consonants around the lost schwa that also hold for the consonant and the following syllabic consonant. So Emily éməlij > émlij is possible, but Ptolemy tóləmij > *tólmij (or *tólm̩ij) is not, because m may not become syllabic after l. (Cf camel may be káml̩ but column may not be kólm̩.)

Syncope is further constrained. On the one hand, while SCF may occur quite freely after r (eg barren bárn̩, forum fóːrm̩, barrel bárl̩, library lájbr̩ij), syncope is impossible after r. This follows from the fact that r must be followed by a syllabic segment, and it would not be before a syncopated vowel. (There is one exception to be discussed below.) So celery sélərij > sélrij is possible, perilous pérələs > pérl̩əs, but *pérləs.

Another constraint is that the syncopated schwa must be followed by a single consonant which is followed by an unstressed syllable. Thus syncope is possible in memory mémərij > mémrij (because ij here is a reduced vowel), but it is not in memorize mémərajz (because aj may not be unstressed). Also Lebanon may belébn̩on is possible, SCF is not as constrained as syncope lébənən > lébnən and lébənon, but not *lébnon, because o is not unstressed.

Syncope is further constrained: if there is a consonant cluster before the schwa to be deleted, it cannot be a stop+liquid cluster. Accordingly, syncope is possible in company kə́mpənij > kə́mpnij, factory fáktərij > fáktrij, or raspberry ráːzbərij > ráːzbrij, since mp, kt, or zb are not stop+liquid clusters, but not in burglary bə́ːglərij > *bə́ːglrij, since gl is a stop+liquid cluster.

lexicalized cases In some words the result of syncope has lexicalized, ie it has become fossilized, only the vowelless pronunciation is current: eg every évrij (the unsyncopated form évərij is very rare). Some of these forms show syncope which does not conform to the constraints mentioned above: eg medicine médsən, vegetable védʒtəbəl, comfortable kə́mftəbəl.

fast speech Finally, let us mention that in fast speech the frequency of syncope increases and the phenomenon extends to environments that were excluded above: eg parade pəréjd > préjd, phenomenon fənómənən > fnómənən (before a stressed vowel), suppose səpə́wz > spə́wz, potato pətéjtəw > ptéjtəw, university jʉ́wnivə́ːsətij > jʉ́wnivə́ːstij (before an obstruent).

High vowel gliding

We mentioned that syncope typically deletes an unstressed ə. There is a special case of syncope, in which the vowel that is deleted is not unstressed ə, but unstressed i or u, and only if they are followed by j or w, respectively. That is, in this case the vocalic first part of unstressed ij and uw is lost. Because these are high vowels and because the resulting segment is a glide, this special case of syncope is often referred to as high vowel gliding (HVG for short).

Just as syncope is only possible before an unstressed vowel, so is HVG. So we find this phenomenon in opinion əpínijən > əpínjən or casual káʒuwəl > káʒwəl, but not in delineation dilínijéjʃən or situation síʧuwéjʃən. Also compare the noun affiliate əfílijət, in which HGV is possible before the unstressed vowel, and the verb əfílijejt, in which it is not possible, because the last vowel is not unstressed.

Just as syncope is not possible after a stop+liquid cluster, HVG also does not occur here: atrium éjtrijəm may not lose its second vowel. There is no limit to HVG after other consonant clusters: eg champion tʃámpijən, Lesbian lézbijən.

Mergers

Vowel reduction and syncope may result in neutralizations that create homophones. Some cases are listed below for both phenomena.

reduction

accept = except (əksépt)
complement = compliment (kómpləmənt)
currant = current (kə́rənt)

syncope

finally = finely (fájnlij)
Hungary = hungry (hə́ŋgrij)
lightening = lightning (lájtniŋ)

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